We are especially proud of this award as these are recognised as the most prestigious awards in the brewing industry. You just have to look at the recipients of other BIIA medals to see the quality of this competition. This achievement places us in very good company.

It goes on sale this week in seven selected outlets in South Lakeland, as a local alternative to mass produced lagers.

Hawkshead is largely a real ale brewery. This is its first keg product. “The beer loving public have shown they prefer local cask ale, so why shouldn’t lager drinkers also have a local beer?” said Hawkshead Brewery’s Alex Brodie. “The keg lager market is still dominated by the international brewers. Keg Lakeland Lager is a local alternative. Keg is also particularly well suited to hotels,” he said.

English Lakes Hotels and the Castle Green Hotel are among the early adopters of keg Lakeland Lager.

Only a few places will sell keg Lakeland Lager at first – as production is currently limited to 100 kegs (1100 gallons) per month (compared to 17,000 gallons a month of cask ale.) But Hawkshead Brewery sees this as a first step to breaking the lager monopoly enjoyed by the multi-national brewers.

The first stockists of keg Lakeland Lager are: The Beer Hall at Hawkshead Brewery in Staveley; The Kings Arms in Hawkshead (the first place to sell Hawkshead beer back in 2002); The Low Wood Hotel on Windermere; The Wild Boar Hotel, Crook; The Eagle and Child, Staveley; The Red Lion, Grasmere; Alexander’s Bar at The Castle Green Hotel.